Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Legendary Tapes to premier at BFI London Film Festival
5,0 / 5,0 | 
Delia Derbyshire · Source: BFI
Delia Derbyshire · Source: BFI
Caroline Catz · Source: BFI
Cosey Fanni Tutti · Source: BFI
A sumptuously cinematic psycho-acoustic exploration of electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire who conceived the Doctor Who theme and electrified the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the 1960s.
Delia, the movie
Delia Derbyshire remains one of the most fascinating characters in the development of electronic music. We all know her work on the iconic Doctor Who theme and we see snippets of her in documentary films but rarely are we offered such a glimpse into a world that produced such extraordinary sounds. This quote from the press release nails it for me:
Delia Derbyshire: The Myths & The Legendary Tapes expands upon the idea that Derbyshire was an extraordinary artist who lived outside of time and space as other people experience it and her soundscapes seemed connected to another realm.
Delia Derbyshire
However, this is more than a biopic. This is an experiment that combines archival material and Delia’s music with dramatisations and new compositions that mirror and feed off the original material. Musician and performance artist Cosey Fanni Tutti (best known for industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle) has pulled samples from Delia’s posthumously discovered “Attic Tapes” and woven them into a unique exchange of ideas “traversing temporal and spiritual planes.”
Cosey Fanni Tutti
It’s written and directed by Caroline Catz who also takes on the role of Delia in the dramatisations. She’s spent the past few years delving into the archives and immersing herself in the life of this wonderfully creative and eccentric woman.
The resulting film is a portrait of Delia filtered through a mix of observation and imagination, with the premise that no single perspective would be sufficient to gain a true understanding of her, replacing the rigidity of a biopic style with something more mysterious and lyrical.”
Caroline Catz
Judging by the forces at work behind it and the thrilling content of the trailer (below) this is going to be a wonderful piece of cinema.
The film will be available to watch on the BFI Player app from 6:30 pm Thursday 15th October until 6:30 pm Sunday 18th October and tickets cost £12 plus a £1 booking fee. It’s only available to view within the UK.
More information
- BFI booking page.
Video
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- Delia Derbyshire: BFI
- Cosey Fanni Tutti: BFI
- Caroline Catz: BFI
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